The Power of Love: The Upgrade Dilemma

What advice do you give to a client who's being left behind with technology, but refuses to upgrade? In this diary entry, Joseph Phillips returns from the past in an effort to bring a client into the future.

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Have you noticed the surge in retro radio stations lately? I'm hearing
music from the 1980s in just about every city I visit. At least they're not
calling the music the "Golden Oldies"yet. Of course, whenever I
want to go back in time I don't have to listen to INXS, Bananarama, or even
ZZ Top, I just pop into one of my favorite clients' offices.

Now don't get me wrongI like Phil Collins and Adam Ant as much as
the next guy, but when it comes to technology, I prefer things to be a bit more
modern. Let me give you some background.

Working 9 to 5

My client, a professional firm, has about 100 users on its network. The bulk
of its technical work is nothing fancy: Word, Excel, a little Access, and some
proprietary apps unique to the industry. Sure, it has email, web access, and
even some subscriptions to remote application services for its business.

So far, things sound pretty normal. Well, put on your Members Only jacket,
one white glove, and "walk this way."

The workstations aren't rocketsthough I'm sure they were at
one time. These machines range in processing power from the typical 486s to
everyone's envy: three 733 workstations. RAM? How about a whopping 64MB?
Let me type that again so you don't think it's a mistake: 64MB of RAM
per PC.

You can factor in all the other cool stuff, too: Windows 95b, serial mice,
and the amazing 5-pin DIN keyboard. They do have color monitors; although one
could argue that "black and white" are colors, it's not the same
as a color monitor. Fortunately, there are only about 10 monochrome monitors
scattered around the office. They're fun to work with. One has Noah's
initials etched on the side.